Firefighters respond to minor roof fire

The Bartlesville Fire Department sent several fire engines to a brief fire at the construction site of the new Silver Lake Village Shopping Center on Adams Boulevard on Tuesday.

BFD Chief John Banks said the fire was “pretty much a nonevent,” but must have looked pretty spectacular for a while.

The fire was reported around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday after workers accidentally ignited some glue that was being put on the roof.

“They had some heat and air guys that were doing some grinding on the roof, and several roofers were putting some adhesive down closeby and a spark ignighted some of the glue,” he said, adding it happened on the farthest west building.

“It, the glue, was on the membrane, which is the waterproofing on the roof. It’s made of a real heavy material like a tarpaper that seals the roof and it’s flame retardant, but it was the glue that was ignited,” Banks ssaid.

There were visible flames for a bit, but it was “pretty well out” when fire personnel arrived, he said.

“Crews went up and cut some of the membrane back to make sure it wasn’t on fire under there,” he said. “We try to remove material until we get back to material that is unburned in a case like this.”